Jan. 15, 2011
Final Stats
Contact: Greg Murphy
VALPARAISO, Ind. - Cleveland State rallied from a seven point halftime deficit and outscored Valparaiso by 17 points in the second half to with for the 10th time this season with a 68-58 victory over the Crusaders on Saturday afternoon in the Athletics and Recreation Center.
It marked the first time this season that the Vikings rallied from a halftime deficit to win.
The win, CSU's fourth straight at Valparaiso, improves the Vikings to 10-7 overall and 3-3 in the Horizon League, while the Crusaders fall to 3-14 overall (0-5 HL).
Janelle Adams led the Vikings with 15 points, while Destinee Blue had 13 points and five boards and Honesty King finished with 12 points off the bench, hitting a pair of three pointers. Shalonda Winton added eight points and 11 rebounds.
The Vikings were aided by a 15-of-17 (.882) performance at the free throw line and finished the day 25-of-54 (.463) from the field.
"We didn't come out with a lot of intensity and passion and got behind early," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "But we kept battling and never let them pull away from us. We received some great performances from everyone tonight and you will need that in order to win on the road."
The Crusaders jumped out to a quick 9-0 lead as Valpo hit its first three three point attempts, including two from Rashida Ray. Janelle Adams converted a layup with 15:00 left in the half to put the Vikings on the board, but Betsy Adams answered with a traditional three point play on the other end to push the Valpo lead to 10 points (12-2).
The quick start from behind the arc was a sign of things to come in the first 20 minutes as Valpo hit 8-of-14 (.571) from three point en route to a 33-26 halftime lead. Ray and Betsy Adams did a majority of the damage, combining to go 6-of-9 in the opening stanza.
Despite the hot shooting from Valpo, the Vikings were never out of the game, using several runs to keep the Crusaders within reach. After being down 12-2 early, CSU answered with a 6-0 run to slice the lead to 12-8 with 12:26 to play.
However, Valpo answered with a three pointer on the other end to push the lead back to seven points (15-8) at the 11:34 mark. From there, the Vikings scored seven of the next nine points to climb back within two points (17-15) on a Blue jumper with 9:13 left in the half.
But once again, the Crusaders had an answer, using back-to-back three pointers and a bucket by Gina Lange to extend the lead back to 10 points (25-15) with 7:29 left. The Vikings came right back with six straight points to pull back within four (25-21), but Adams answered with another three pointer with 4:40 left to push Valpo's lead back to seven points (28-21).
The lead would get back to nine (33-24) on an Adams three pointer with 1:45 left, but Honesty King hit a jumper on the other end to send the Vikings into the locker room down 33-26.
CSU started quickly in the second half, scoring six quick points to pull within 33-32 and force the Crusaders into a timeout. A Valpo bucket stopped the Viking run, but Keane and Winton converted back-to-back three point plays to give CSU its first lead of the contest (38-35) with just over 16 minutes left.
The contest was close over the next 11 minutes with neither team leading by more than four points. Valpo held a slim three point lead (54-51) after splitting a pair of free throws, but that's when the Vikings took over.
Adams hit two free throws and a layup to put the Vikings back ahead (55-54) with 3:55 left. After a Valpo basket, Garland hit a jumper to put CSU back in front and following a stop on the defensive end, Winton converted a three point play to extend the lead to 60-56 with two minutes left. The Vikings managed another stop on the defensive end and Garland hit a short jumper from the wing with the shot clock winding down, giving CSU a 62-56 lead with one minute left and sealing the win.
"We had a great final push down the stretch to pull away," Peterson Abiad said. "That's the kind of effort and intensity that we need to play with for 40 minutes. We got key stops when we needed them and executed on offense like we are capable of doing."
The Vikings won the rebounding battle, 33-31, while committing just 14 turnovers for forcing 21 Valpo miscues.
The Crusaders wound up 10-of-23 (.435) from three point, but hit just 11-of-31 (.355) from the field in the second half after shooting .500 (11-22) in the first.
The Vikings are back in action on Thursday (Jan. 20) when CSU hosts Detroit at 5:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center. It will be the first of four doubleheaders with the Viking men's squad this year as they will also host the Titans at 7:30 p.m.
